Akai EWISOLO Unboxing and First Impressions

My new Akai EWISOLO arrived today (9/8/20) and here is the unboxing and my first impressions of it right out of the box. I'll be doing an EWISOLO live stream on Sunday 9/27/20 at 4PM EDT and am getting right to work on setup and preset modification to optimize the EWISOLO to it's full potential. More videos on the way!

[@digginrev6139]

Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate the Akai Solo, I played tenor sax many many years ago and I wanted to get back and relearned something that I really enjoyed so it will be like starting all over from scratch but watching this and your skill and expression playing the EWI has got me excited, my goal being that I am a minister is to play this at church someday.

[@rboaxx9065]

Fender road sound, strings, guitar... etc... look great! I'm waiting for your next video!!! Thanks Bernie!

[@amprostudios]

Great review. Ready for the live stream now.

[@billreed1889]

thanks for doing this Bernie... looking forward to your calibrations video...

[@enriqueponticas743]

After hearing a few opinions about the new EWISOLO I thought, no way I'll get one, after your post it's a maybe. I'll wait for your next video to make a final decision. Thanks Bernie, nice to see you back full swing again!

[@robertthompson148]

If you watch his Live Stream on the EWISOLO, 9/27/20 (1:47:20) you might be convinced, I am!

[@alexanderterekhin8927]

Thanks a lot for sharing your review - it is nice to see a person who can accept changes and give them a chance instead it battering them right away )

[@PhilGeissler]

Thanks Bernie. I'm on the fence right now with it. I have to say you have gotten the most out of the patches than anyone else.

[@rodolfoferreira]

Great, was waiting for your input about the Solo, and looking forward to a video of all factory sounds played musically, as you always do, before the sound adjustments? Thank you very much !!

[@hunterbrowncomposer8990]

Hey Bernie, nice demo. I'm a former bassoonist, and just bought the EWI solo after wanting to buy a wind synth for a while and mess around with wind playing again. I agonized over which particular model to get, but ultimately decided on the solo because it seemed the most flexible. I can play it for friends and family with the speaker, or use it to play my virtual instruments in Kontakt! I downloaded your finger exercises and your Klose scale book (which led me to download the original Klose exercises off IMSLP as well).

[@mikeparlett]

Great and very informative video Bernie! Thanks so much!

[@BernieKenerson]

You’re welcome, Mike!

[@edmond2000]

Hurray!!! Welcome back Bernzilla... Where have you been... Glad to hear from again. God bless.

[@Meteotrance]

To be honnest it look and sound cool right out the box.

[@TheWindGinProject]

Thanks - Nice video as always.

[@jeremyarcher289]

Looks Great! Thanks for sharing Bernie 👍! Is there no bend up plate? I need that! Bend into blue note is necessary for me 😂! Look forward to your tutorials on setting up this new EWI instrument and sounds, I know it will take a little bit of time 😊

[@robertthompson148]

Awesome!

[@berniarmstrong]

I'm sure I would not be alone in hoping you do your adjustments and calibrations, etc, on camera.

[@rjones1357]

Thanks!!!

[@Sarge707]

Got one on the way from Matt at Patchman Music, Can't wait to see your Calibration!! AKAI should hire you!!!

[@ericbrendan8094]

I realize Im kind of randomly asking but do anybody know a good site to stream new movies online?

[@koleterrell2171]

@Eric Brendan i watch on flixzone. Just search on google for it :)

[@kyngkyng908]

@Eric Brendan Try FlixZone. You can find it by googling :)

[@joaquinkendrick8588]

@Eric Brendan i would suggest FlixZone. You can find it by googling =)

[@tunairaiol]

Thank you!

[@cresshead]

I'm looking at a ewi right now so been looking at roland, yamaha and akai videos all week! Akai EWI Solo seems to hit a good bang for buck, priced well, lot's good features and sounds okay too. Roland only really seems to offer something useful (AE-20) at double the price of the Akai solo. (AE-Go - only having 11 sounds is waay too stingy in my opinion) Yamaha does a pretty good job with the YDS 120 but it's really only for sax sounds by the looks of it. Thanks for making such detailed video - really helps.

[@yotrakzproductions7324]

New foundation for new creativity. Cool. Sheesh, I'm selling my EWIusb and getting a Solo.

[@tvillan2000]

Bernie, I enjoy your video brother . I recently purchased the EWI Solo and am just getting started learning this instrument . I play Tenor Sax, Flute and Trombone. Which fingering do you suggest to keep it programmed to ? Saxophone, Flute, EWI or EVI ? Also can you send me suggested settings that you set your instrument to ?

[@leocastano6966]

Thank you for video. Which software can i use to link EWI SOLO with outside sounds and use it like MIDI controll without using internal sounds?

[@ellishawkins984]

Hey Bern Long time Ewi guy / distant admirer of yours here. Need a new EWI soon and was looking into these other models and forgot about the side F new key. Was a bit annoyed them changing it when so many fingering possibilities exist and its a bad direction to compete with digi-saxes - I dont really use that key on the real sax and similar key on clarinet as much as I should even though the acoustics are way beefier. Anyway gave it some time and thought if it could be turned off maybe it could also be used just as a stand alone cc send to not sacrifice the hold keys or only have the effect coupled with glide or the pitch bend. That could be really useful for the next proper model. Debating getting the 4000s again though not unhappy with 5000 - hope the 6000 has pitch bend up plate and follows in the number line rather than the usb-solo series.

[@BernieKenerson]

Agreed! Yes you can turn that key off in the Global settings. I find it useless and have it off.

[@pmwizard48]

How has your ewisolo working out for you? Have you changed any of the patches?

[@Meteotrance]

Im interest to buy thé Solo version only if i can have a good midi to USB control with it, im planned to use this with Reason Thor and Friktion. Have expérience this one as a Midi contrôler ?

[@BernieKenerson]

Yes it has good MIDI control via USB. I’ve already tested with iPad apps as well as Logic, MainStage, Reason and Ableton Live on laptop.

[@chaplainmattsanders4884]

A quick question: I seem to be hearing quite a lot of hissing air; is that part of the sound production, or just a little leakage from the embouchure? Thnx.

[@lgovantes1]

How does the sound compare to the other EWIs?

[@souldom99]

Is the "truth" sound supposed to sound like the classic by T-square?

[@BernieKenerson]

Yes

[@plan4studios977]

When we’re these released? We’re the Akai ones the first ones or?

[@Totally007]

Thank You 😊 so very much for a great video. That I trust! From a professional. Regards, TotallyKenny

[@BernieKenerson]

You're very welcome!

[@rjones1357]

Can you add “EWI SOLO” to your description? “EWISOLO” was not an obvious search string for me.

[@BernieKenerson]

Will do

[@diegolicata01]

Hello Bernie! i was wondering, with no upper bend plate how can you bend up now? is it possible to do it with the glide plate or the bite sensor?

[@BernieKenerson]

Not possible with glide plate and limited possibilities using bite. Lower PB plate can be set to bend up if needed

[@sts-31]

I don't think I got that entire key-talk about how they switched them around.. Is that a technical difference, or does it impact how the instrument feels?

[@pmwizard48]

Is it possible to modify the patches on the ewi solo to sound closer to the actual acoustic instrument? I do have an ewi4000s and the Yamaha vl70m with the patchman sounds. But would like to have a wind synth without the extra modules when playing.

[@BernieKenerson]

Yes it is.

[@AelZiig-vi7jh]

Seeking a way to suppress the reverb on the solo. Use to my now disfunctioing 4ks, but find too much reverb on some patches on the solo. Can this feature be adj or suppressed?

[@thewonkyembouchure]

Can the Solo be connected to an iPad via the Apple Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter to run SWAM audio modeling apps and the like? Really nice demo - and food for thought.

[@BernieKenerson]

Yes you can do that. Enjoy!

[@thewonkyembouchure]

@@BernieKenerson Appreciate that Bernie!

[@ashleyhall1384]

Has this got the evi option, for brass players?

[@BernieKenerson]

Yes it does.

[@redactedwendigo4508]

Do I have to plug it into anything to play the instrument

[@BernieKenerson]

No you do not.

[@Dipankar7777]

My ewi5000 recently I purchased howarth London but not working at all, I sent mail to howarth London but replied me that may be battery problem and thay sent me farther help mail to akai and thay will help you, but answer is same may be wrong with the battery. Battery expats says battery is perfect. I did not know what to do now. Can you please help me? When ever I fix battery the display showing 1'7 and not being switched off until I remove the battery.

[@BernieKenerson]

Take the battery out and leave it out overnight. Reinstall and plug EWI in to charge. I hope this helps.

[@BodhiFitness]

EWI5000 has a known fault where the battery charge goes too low and the EWI sees it as invalid and refuses to charge it. It’s a known and well documented issue. I had the problem, was told to buy a new battery. I did, and now the new battery is also too dead. Nothing left to do but try to put some charge back in the battery manually so that the EWI will charge it again. The EWI is definitely the best wind synth on the market, but AKAI sucks as a company. They’ve never responded to any customer service request. Got someone on the phone once and they told me to send it in for service (out of pocket of course). A $900 instrument should not require the owner to pay to fix a known defect. It’s really disheartening.

[@bryka2010]

Hello. I wanted to ask because I would like to give myself a gift and buy Ewi solo. I just don't know, because there is also an ewi 5000 version and I'm wondering which one to choose. Is the solo better, has more functions and fingerings than the ewi 5000. What is the difference between both models? Regards.

[@BernieKenerson]

EWISOLO is best choice and my favorite. Double the presets (200) than EWI5000 (100). Easier to setup and use. Plays good right out of the box. Built in speaker is good for practicing and can even be used to play on a microphone. EWISOLO is my main EWI. Cheaper too!

[@bryka2010]

@@BernieKenerson OK thanks. When it comes to fingering. I would like to because this ewi solo has 5 fingering modes and for me as a beginner what is the easiest mode to play, for example el condor passa. You know, I saw these buttons. There are 6 buttons and we don't know which sound is c or d, etc. This is some difficult or easy device. Could I handle it?

[@gregfagan38]

Does it fit in a Soprano sax case?

[@dmantheway]

Waitting on your next video, Seems like a good EWI to have.

[@BernieKenerson]

It fits in my soprano sax gig bags but sticks out a bit on top. Can’t zip all the way closed.

[@chrisliddiard725]

Checking the specs on Amazon, this seems to be 4 inches longer and double the weight of the EWI4000s. Also uses rechargble batteries with no information on duration, or what you do when those batteries needs replacing. Is this sample based or does it have an onboard synth engine? NAMM2020 might be closed but were getting NAMM2020 anyways.

[@ilikemusak]

In my opinion, the EWI is unique and awesome because it is first and foremost a synthesizer/midi controller. One that works well for wind players I can't think of a quality synth that has a built in speaker. There's no point. It will never be as quality as an external speaker. This instrument is nice as a practice tool, but micing this little speaker seems absurd. I'd never spend $4-500 dollars on a practice tool. If they're trying to appeal to introductory musicians, fine. I have always been hoping they'd start offering more high end features

[@QalinaCom]

none of the saxes sounded realistic to me, sorry. That's why I picked up the sax-no MIDI cuts it.

[@ukaszpoleski3744]

Hopeless sounds (in the age of physical color modeling, wading into sampling makes less and less sense). The built-in loudspeaker is only suitable for fun. The 6.5mm jack output is mono instead of stereo. Fingering is only a decima (and only an octave for flute fingering), which limits the music and forces unnecessary and irritating excessive use of octave rolls. Approx. 30 years ago YAMAHA released the WX-5 wind driver, which with a dedicated VL-70m sound module (with physical sound modeling) is for me an example of how wind instruments should be made to this day. Someone who does not compare to the above-mentioned Yamaha model, will not understand that AKAI EWI SOLO is just crap for a child's play.

[@DrDaab]

A really excellent intro to the new EWI Solo. I never thought of adjusting the angle of the keys, or swapping them as you did. I also enjoyed your walking acoustic bass playing. Of course the little speaker is unable to deal with the lower frequencies but it still sounded surprisingly good. I've played all of the older EWI's and currently use the 4000s, decided to skip the 5000, and I'm thinking of getting the EWI Solo. Since I'm interested in getting as close to acoustic instruments sounds, I was surprised at how good some of the instruments sounded even with the built in speaker. I only play with external virtual synths in order to get the best instruments sounds possible. This means virtual instruments from samplemodeling and audiomodeling which ties you to a computer, but I don't much mind, since I only play at home. You can check out the sounds of my trumpets, trombones, clarinets, saxophones, and flute on my soundcloud page: soundcloud.com/dstong